NEPALI SCANDAL

Monday, November 23, 2009

Budhanilkantha School has a big reputation inside and outside Nepal because of its resources, infrastructures and the amount of successful graduates that it has produced. Recently, a sex scandal was reported by a lot of media. Things were already looking nasty for the school, when Avenues TV pounced into the case and shot videos inside the school. There's a teacher called Badri Gautam inside Budhanilkantha School, who calls young girls at nights into his room, and then rapes them.Badri Gautam was then fired from the school after a long period of what was said to be occupied by the investigation. After a few days, Mrs. Priya Poudel (who teaches Nepali) was also suspended from the school because she was the one who invited the camera crew of the Avenues TV and set up the whole show inside the school. She was also the one, who is said to have tricked and convinced the junior kids to give distorted interviews on the TV. Well, I don't know if that's actually what happened but things are said to have taken place like that.The case of sexual assault by Badri Gautam aroused a lot of interest in a lot of the parties in the school. Firstly, Badri Gautam is a close-aide of the principal, Mr. Narayan Prasad Sharma. Secondly, there's a teacher's union now operating at the school that's trying to get rid of NP Sharma and establish themselves. They have been using this incident to oust NP Sharma. Well, for a fact, NP Sharma has been detested by a large majority of the students for a long time now. We always had discussions about his corruptions, and the miserable state the school was getting into time and again. There might be very few BNKS alumni, who do not want a change of leadership in the school. But, The UNION? The Teacher's Union is not the answer to this. Personally, I feel that this is a group of disadvantaged losers. When the Principal put them in posts, they licked his boots. They wouldn't listen to anything against him. When removed, they now threaten to remove him.Avenues Tv, no matter how much impartial they claim to have been, have surely distorted this incident. There were many ways of perceiving this incident, but they have chosen to look at this incident from the eyes of Priya Poudel. Well, people also claim that Priya ( an active member of The Staff Union) 's actions are planned, and it's her politician husband that has been her Guru during these times.After the Badri Gautam incident, when Mrs. Priya was suspended, her backing up force - The Teacher's Union (oh, it's TU - seems right for most of them are TU graduates) locked up the Principal's Office. The senior students protested and sat on the roads inside the school. Avenues TV, which seems to have been informed by the TU, or Mrs. Priya more specifically, tried to come back into the school again to shoot videos. No sane person would let a media inside their house, when they know for what reason they're there. This channel operates like India's Aajtak - by sensationalizing news. Even small news, that shouldn't have been news in the first place, are presented as if they are REAL BIG, with all those gestures of the news readers, and the sound and graphics effects. The students, who had by now realized that Avenues TV was simply coming inside the school for the desires of a small group of teachers, as opposed to the overall good of the school, decided to teach them a lesson. They snatched away their camera, and deleted all those scenes they'd captured in their tapes, and chased them out of school. That I feel was the right thing to do.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

In a latest news, it is told that another Nepali actress, Pooja Lama, has become victim of a sex scandal. Lama, a Nepali model, singer, and actress is considered one of the boldest model. In the video, Pooja can be clearly seen as her partner is films it. Pooja is well aware of the recording and looks like the video recording is done in mutual agreement.I haven’t seen the video and don’t know much about it. Those who have seen it have told that the video is filmed in a room with Pooja’s photo on the background. The couple is talking in English (as in Namrata’s video). The video is very short (only 1:23 minutes in length) as compared to about half an hour video of Namrata Shrestha. It is to be seen if more of her videos in the series will be released in the future.Pooja is wearing a white dress and a dog can also be seen in the video. The the door is left wide open during the act in her room. Although Pooja can be easily be recognized in the video, face of her partner is not shown.

The highest paid music video star, 22-year-old Nepali beauty Namrata Shrestha effortlessly sashayed into Nepal's film industry last year with the hit musical of the year Sano Sansar (Small world).With her fan clubs growing and mounting tributes to both her ethereal beauty and talent, she was poised to become a newsmaker this month with her new release, Mero euta sathi chho (I have a friend).Instead, she has hit the headlines for a steamy sex video that is being widely circulated by web sites and mobile phone users showing her in unabashed poses with a Nepali DJ, Tantric, whose real name is Kicha Man Chitrakar.On Sunday, a Nepali tabloid made the sex video, shot with a mobile phone camera, its cover story, complete with graphic descriptions as well as photos of the pair.Namrata reportedly says it's her personal matter.When the Naya Patrika daily, that carried a report on the nearly 11-minute long sex video, asked her to comment on it, the rising star reportedly said: "Yes, I recorded it for my personal viewing. If you have a copy, I'd suggest you enjoy it without bothering me."The sex video and Nepali society's reaction to it shows the changing face of the new republic that has witnessed amazing socio-political transformations in the last four years.Parallels are being drawn between it and the Shrisha Karki scandal that erupted in 2002, creating a furore, intense social condemnation and even police action.In 2002, Shrisha, another aspiring starlet, committed suicide after a weekly published a report exposing the casting couch syndrome in Nepal's film industry which exploited Shrisha and other vulnerable newcomers like her.However, the nude photograph of Shrisha, published by the Jana Aastha weekly with its report on enforced prostitution in the Nepali film industry caused the young actress to commit suicide, triggering a backlash against the weekly."I had to remain underground for one and a half years," says Kishor Shrestha, the 39-year-old editor of the weekly, who in 2002 faced a warrant for his arrest due to growing social outcry."But now, in the new permissive society, things are regarded differently."Shrestha says the sex video reinforces the absence of ethics in Nepal's film industry as well as growing promiscuity."While Shrisha was forced into prostitution, in Namrata's case, the situation is different," he says. "She is well educated and her career had taken off. She admitted that she herself had got the video made."Seven years ago, the public outrage was triggered because the actress committed suicide, he says."When people die, our society treats them as saints," he says. "But Namrata has not committed suicide, showing she is made of sterner stuff."But though society has become permissive, Shrestha says the Namrata incident still goes against traditional society values."It's a betrayal," he says. "Namrata has her own boyfriend while the DJ is a married man with kids. The incident has dealt a blow to his marriage."He also predicts that though she can brazen it out, it is going to affect Namrata's career."Her fans have already started making adverse comments on the Net after the incident," he says. "It has tarnished her image and her credibility."